In the use of defibrillating apparatus it is common practice to apply electrodes to the chest of a patient whose heart is fibrillating. To insure adequate electrical contact between the electrode and the body of the patient, the electrode is first coated with an electrically conductive greasy substance, commonly known as electro-gel. This material is somewhat messy to handle, and may not be available at a given moment, and a harassed technician may forget to apply it, thereby resulting in insufficient electrical energy being applied to stop fibrillation of the heart.